Chapter 131


    I spend way more time than I budgeted for with Luke, they had been separated into squadrons to patrol but he didn''t have to go in till it got dark.


    He didn''t have to show up at work today as well and I really didn''t have any ns so we end up ying games well into the afternoon.


    My mom called to check up on me a couple times, asking if I wasn''t hungry yet, I told her I was fine.


    Luke had ordered pizza which he went down to get and when he came back he found me on the wardrobe with no recollection of how I got up there, Carmen woofing happily up at me and pawing at the wardrobe.


    "Call that huge monster away." I say unhappily when he finally came back.


    This seems to break him out of his shock and he helps me down.


    "How did you even get up there?" He asks incredulously. "It''s like twice your height."


    "Don''t push it Luke." I warn him darkly, still upset.


    "Sorry." He apologizes nervously.


    I end up eating way more pizza than I''d ever thought possible and that''s how I walk down the hallway to my apartment, feeling like I swallowed a basketball.


    Luke had insisted on escorting me because he was still paranoid about Leon which seemed ludicrous to me but Luke seems genuinely terrified so I humor him.


    We exchange our byes and I push open the door, wanting nothing more than to shower and fall dead asleep on my bed.


    The acrobatics I had performed to get away from Carmen was starting to tell on me.


    It''s a whole lot shocking that I can actually spend an entire day with someone that I just got to really know a day before but it was actually really nice.


    "Oh, Hayden? You''re back, I was just about toe get you." My mom says happily as soon as I step in, she''s sitting on the couch with Apple sleeping beside her while she watches some show on the TV.


    "Hi, mom, sorry for staying out so long." I apologize drowsily.


    "Oh no, it''s fine, if you wanted to stay over, you''re free to." She says sweetly.


    "Thanks, but no thanks, he has a dog." I tell her shortly, like it exins everything, it kind of does, well that and the fact that I''ll have a lot to exin to my friends, I wasn''t interested in that much stress.


    "Baby? Aren''t you eating dinner?" She calls to me.


    "No, thanks mom."


    I trudge my way to my room, it''s almost time for dinner but I''m going to have to pass on it. There''s no space in my tummy for anything more anyway.


    Izily fling open my door only to freeze, my fingers going cold.


    Virgil is lying on my bed, still in his jacket, he''s propped against the headboard with his hands behind his head but it''s his expression that makes me gulp, he looks furious, his eyes a burning gold.


    "Where have you been, Hayden?" He asks coldly and I blink in surprise.


    Virgil is actually really terrifying but I''ve never been on the receiving side so it hits hard.


    My sigh of relief that it''s just Virgil gets overshadowed by his obvious upset state. "Um, at Luke''s, we were ying games?" I exin shortly, my mind working double time to figure out how Virgil got in here.


    My mom would definitely have told me if she knew and I eye the window, he wouldn''t do that right?


    "Oh." He murmured in an odd tone but when I nce at him, he''s just staring quietly at me, blue eyes and serene smile in ce.


    "How was your day?" I ask politely, still on my n of showering and falling asleep.


    If Dale and Virgil wanted to sleep over, they were free to but it wouldn''t hurt to give me a heads up.


    "Not bad, I missed you." He says easily like it was something he said every other day.


    I''m on my way to a fresh change of clothes from my wardrobe so that I could go shower but at his words I trip, spreading my arms out for bnce quickly before turning around to look at him with surprise.


    "Err.. I um I missed you too." Which is the truth because now it hits that I haven''t seen him since that night at my house when the Werewolf attacked.


    I cut off my journey to the wardrobe and turn around to walk up to him instead. "You know, you could have given me a heads up, I nearly bit my tongue off." I tell him, making him sit up so I can help him out of his jacket - I don''t know why I do it, it''s just something that Virgil himself would have done for me so it doesn''t seem out of ce.


    "But that would have ruined the surprise." He whines a little, moving around a little to make it easier for me to pull his jacket off .


    I hang his jacket ande back to him with a smile on my face. "Sure, were you waiting long?" I didn''t bother to ask how he got in, it would be like asking my mom how she got into the house --- weird


    He throws his legs off the bed so that he''s facing me and he pulls me close so that he can rest his head on me. "Not really." He shrugs slightly, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.


    I note that while Dale had given me a detailed exnation of how his day had gone, Virgil instead just says the perfunctory phrase and it''s just like him because he feels like he''s supposed to protect me from everything.


    That''s why at moments like this, when he actually lets his guard down and relies on me even though it''s so inconsequential, I gulp it down like a parched soul starved for water.